Medicine For E Coli Infection

Prevention Of E Coli Infections

Prevention of urinary tract infections caused by E. coli involves drinking enough fluids and avoiding contamination of the urethra with stool. Females, for example, should wipe from front to back after urinating or having a bowel movement.

Prevention of E. coli O157:H7 infection involves

• Avoiding unpasteurized milk and other dairy products made from unpasteurized milk

• Thoroughly cooking beef

• Thoroughly washing the hands with soap and running water after using the toilet, changing diapers, and having contact with animals or their environment and before and after preparing or eating food

• Not swallowing water when swimming or when playing in lakes, ponds, streams, swimming pools, or backyard “kiddie” pools

In the United States, improved meat processing procedures have helped reduce the rate of meat contamination.

To prevent spread of infection in day care centers, staff members may group together children who are known to be infected. Or they may ask for proof that the infection is gone before they allow infected children to attend.

What Causes An E Coli Intestinal Infection

You get an E. coli infection by coming into contact with the feces, or stool, of humans or animals. This can happen when you drink water or eat food that has been contaminated by feces.

E. coli in food

E. coli can get into meat during processing. If the infected meat is not cooked to 71°C , the bacteria can survive and infect you when you eat the meat. This is the most common way people in Canada become infected with E. coli. Any food that has been in contact with raw meat can also become infected.

Other foods that can be infected with E. coli include:

• Raw milk or dairy products. Bacteria can spread from a cow’s udders to its milk. Check the labels on dairy products to make sure they contain the word “pasteurized.” This means the food has been heated to destroy bacteria.
• Raw fruits and vegetables, such as lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, or unpasteurized apple cider or other unpasteurized juices that have come in contact with infected animal feces.

E. coli in water

Human or animal feces infected with E. coli sometimes get into lakes, pools, and water supplies. People can become infected when a contaminated city or town water supply has not been properly treated with chlorine or when people accidentally swallow contaminated water while swimming in a lake, pool, or irrigation canal.

E. coli from person-to-person contact

How Can I Prevent E Coli Infections

• Wash your hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds
• After using the bathroom
• After contact with animals or their environment
• Supervise young children to be sure they properly wash their hands.
• Wash your hands more often when someone in your household is sick.
• Cook all ground beef and hamburger products to at least 160°F. Do not eat hamburgers if they are pink in the middle.
• Prevent cross-contamination in the kitchen by washing hands, cutting boards, countertops, knives, utensils, and surfaces with warm, soapy water after handling raw foods.
• Wash and/or peel fruits and vegetables before eating them.
• Do not drink unpasteurized milk, juice, or cider.
• Clean and disinfect surfaces with household bleach immediately after vomiting or diarrheal accidents.
• Dont drink untreated water from lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, or shallow wells.

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What Is E Coli

Escherichia coli, or E. coli, is a bacteria that lives harmlessly in the human gut along with other bacteria. Certain strains of E. coli, however, are invasive, toxic, or both, and can cause a severe infection called E. coli infection. Characterized by watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and vomiting, E. coli gut infections are one of the most common causes offood poisoning. The more toxic E. coli strains, however, can be life-threatening.

Besides gut infections, E. coli can cause several other types of infections. The human body has evolved to live with E. coli colonies in the intestines, but not other organs. If normally harmless E. coli bacteria travel to other parts of the body, they can cause serious infections. For instance, 80% to 90% ofurinary tract infections are caused by E. coli from the gut traveling up the urethra and infecting the urethra, bladder, or kidneys. Peritonitis , bacteremia , meningitis , and cholangitis can all be caused by E. coli bacteria finding their way to other parts of the body.

Many E. coli infections strike newborns, such as neonatal meningitis, neonatalpneumonia, or neonatal. All of these opportunistic E. coli infections are distinct conditions with different complications and treatments. This article will focus on intestinal infections caused by infectious E. coli that normally live in animals.

For more information about E. coli urinary tract infections, read our article onUTI Treatments and Medications.

What Steps Are Involved In Getting A Stool Sample To My Healthcare Provider

Some general instructions for collecting a stool sample at home include:

• First, wash your hands with soap and water.
• If its possible to urinate before setting up for the stool collection, do so. You dont want to get urine in your stool sample if you can help it.
• To collect diarrhea, tape a plastic bag to the toilet seat. You only need to collect a small amount a couple tablespoons.
• Place the plastic bag into a clean plastic container and seal with lid.
• Wash your hands with soap and water.
• Write your name and date on the container, place within another bag, wash your hands again and deliver to your healthcare provider on the same day you collect your sample. If you cant deliver your sample immediately, you can store it in your refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
• Do not collect the sample from the toilet bowl. Do not mix in toilet paper, soap or water.

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What Should I Eat If I Have E Coli

Drink clear fluids for several days. Make sure that some of these fluids are packed with electrolytes, such as broth or soup. Two or three days after the onset of symptoms, diarrhea may ease off. Re-introduce solid foods back into the diet gradually. Bland foods such as rice, toast, and eggs are best. Avoid high-fiber foods, dairy, spicy foods, and fatty foods.

What Is An E Coli Infection

E. coli is the name of a germ, or bacterium, that lives in the digestive tracts of humans and animals.

There are many types of E. coli, and most of them are harmless. But some can cause bloody diarrhea. Some strains of E. coli bacteria may also cause severe anemia or kidney failure, which can lead to death.

Other strains of E. coli can cause urinary tract infections or other infections.

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Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Due To E Coli

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , about 5 to 10 percent of people with an E. coli infection develop hemolytic uremic syndrome , a condition that damages red blood cells.

This can lead to kidney failure, which may be life threatening, especially for children and older adults. HUS generally begins about 5 to 10 days after the onset of diarrhea.

People and animals normally have some E. coli in their intestines, but certain strains from outside the body can cause infection.

Other E Coli Infections

Many other E. coli infections, usually bladder or other urinary tract infections Overview of Urinary Tract Infections In healthy people, urine in the bladder is sterileno bacteria or other infectious organisms are present. The tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body contains no bacteria… read more , are treated with antibiotics, such as trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, nitrofurantoin, or a fluoroquinolone. However, many bacteria, particularly those acquired in a health care facility, are resistant to some antibiotics. To increase the chances that antibiotics will be effective, doctors may use several antibiotics together until they get the test results indicating which antibiotics are likely to be effective. After they get the results, they change the antibiotics used if needed.

For more serious infections, antibiotics that are effective against many different bacteria may be used.

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What Can I Expect If I Have An E Coli Infection

Its important to keep in mind that most strains of E. coli are harmless. They live naturally in your intestinal tract and help digest your food. Sometimes, however, you may eat food or drink water that is contaminated with illness-causing E. coli. Sometimes a mild E. coli infection will cause a brief bout of diarrhea. Other strains of E. coli, the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli , cause bloody diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and cramps. If you are otherwise healthy, you should recover from an E. coli infection within about a week without any treatment.

Although hemolytic uremic syndrome is a serious complication, it is rare and occurs in about 5% to 10% of people. With early treatment and proper care, people can recover from HUS.

What Causes E Coli Infections

Infections can occur due to E. coli types that are naturally present in the human gut or harmful E. coli types that enter the body through the mouth. E. coli that usually cause no harm when growing in the gut can cause illness if they enter a body part where they dont naturally grow. For example, some E. coli can enter the urethra, leading tourinary tract infections .

E. coli types that infect the gut, leading to diarrheal illness , are most often spreadthrough food or water that has come in contact with feces . They can also spread by putting hands that have come in contact with E. coli in the mouth. Specifically, these types of infections come from:

• Eating undercooked ground beef, unpasteurized dairy products, or raw fruits and vegetables
• Drinking untreated water
• Drinking raw milk or juices
• Touching infected animals or their environment
• Contact with the feces of infected people

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How Can I Prevent Or Avoid An E Coli Infection

The most important thing you can do to protect against E. coli infection is to wash your hands frequently. Always wash your hands thoroughly before and after cooking and after handling raw meat or poultry.

Wash your hands after using the restroom, changing diapers or after contact with animals.

If youve been infected with E. coli, scrub your hands vigorously with soap and clean under your fingernails where bacteria can get caught. Dry your hands with paper towels instead of cloth towels to avoid transferring bacteria.

You can also reduce your risk of an E. coli infection by following these food preparation and cooking tips.

When thawing meats:

• Dont defrost frozen meat unwrapped on the counter.
• Keep frozen meat in a separate plastic bag when thawing.

When prepping foods:

• Dont rinse meat before cooking. Its not necessary. Washing the meat could spread bacterial to nearby surfaces, utensils and other food.
• Use a plastic or ceramic cutting board to cut raw meat. These materials can be cleaned more easily and thoroughly than wooden cutting boards.
• Dont cross-contaminate a prepping surface. If you had raw meat or chicken on a prepping surface, such as a cutting board, wash it thoroughly with soap and hot water before putting another type of food on it. Better yet, use different cutting boards for the foods you are preparing.
• Rinse all raw fruits and vegetables under cold running water before eating them. Its ok to scrub firm produce but dont use detergent or soap.

How Is E Coli Diagnosed

E.coli is diagnosed from the symptoms and a stool sample.

Most E. coli infections will be diagnosed and treated by a primary care physician, but severe infections may require a digestive system doctor or a kidney specialist .

The most common symptoms of E. coli infection are:

• Watery diarrhea

• Yellow or pale skin
• Unusual bleeding or bruising

The patient history can help identify risk factors such as consumption of contaminated food or water, exposure to farm animals, or person-to-person transmission.

A stool culture is used to identify the infecting organism as well as antibodies to Shiga toxin or verotoxin. A blood test is performed to obtain a white blood cell count and to rule out other possible conditions. A urine test will determine how well the kidneys are functioning.

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How Do E Coli Infections Happen

Most often, E. coli spreads when someone eats food that contains the bacteria. At-risk foods include:

• undercooked ground beef
• produce grown in animal manure or washed in contaminated water
• unpasteurized dairy or juice products

The bacteria also can spread from person to person on unwashed hands and surfaces, by swimming in contaminated water, and from touching animals at farms or petting zoos.

Sometimes outbreaks happen. An outbreak is when a disease happens in greater numbers than expected in a particular area. E. coli outbreaks usually happen because many people ate the same contaminated food.

What Is The Best Medication For E Coli

Medications are only rarely used for E. coli infections. Antibiotics and antidiarrheal medications may make the problem worse. There is, then, no best medication for E. coli.

The standard dosages above are from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Health . Dosage is determined by your doctor based on your medical condition, response to treatment, age, and weight. Other possible side effects exist. This is not a complete list.

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What Antibiotics Treat E Coli Uti

Following a positive urinalysis, your doctor may prescribe Bactrim or Cipro, two medicines often used to treat E. coli UTIs. If these drugs dont work, your doctor may suggest another antibiotic. There are many different classes of medications available, so your doctor will likely be able to find something that will clear up your infection without causing too many side effects.

An E. coli bacteria infection can be treated with any of several different antibiotics depending on which strain is responsible for the infection. The most common antibiotics used to treat E. coli infections are ciprofloxacin and nitrofurantoin .

What Bacteria Does Colistin Treat

Colistin, commonly known as polymyxin E, is an antibiotic used as a last-resort therapy for multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections such as pneumonia. Bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Acinetobacter may be involved.

Colistin works by disrupting the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, allowing antibiotics that would otherwise be inhibited to enter the cell. Once inside the cell, these same antibiotics can then kill both the intracellular and extracellular bacteria.

Colistin was first isolated from Bacillus colistinus in 1949 and has since been synthesized chemically. It is available as a powder for suspension use or as a solution for intravenous injection. The usual dose for adults is between 10 and 12 million units per day given intramuscularly or intravenously for up to seven days.

Colistin resistance occurs when bacteria become immune to it by changing their genetic makeup. This change can be due to natural selection during treatment or through the action of drug dealers who sell clones of bacteria that are resistant to colistin. There are reports of resistance spreading through bacterial communities in hospitals, possibly due to excessive use of this antibiotic.

Since 2002, there have been more than 150 reported cases of colistin resistance in P. aeruginosa worldwide.

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About Escherichia Coli O157

Escherichia coli O157, sometimes called VTEC, is a bacterial infection that can cause severe stomach pain, bloody diarrhoea and kidney failure.

E. coli O157 is found in the gut and faeces of many animals, particularly cattle. It is an uncommon cause of gastroenteritis but can be caught by:

• Eating contaminated food . Always wash all vegetables that will be eaten raw, unless they have been pre-prepared and are labelled ready to eat. Washing may reduce the risk of infection, but will not eliminate any risk of infection completely.
• Touching infected animals or accidentally coming into contact with their faeces.
• Contact with people who have the illness, particularly if you do not wash your hands thoroughly after using the toilet or before handling food.
• Drinking water from inadequately treated water supplies.
• Swimming or playing in contaminated water, such as ponds or streams.

Treating Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

About 5 to 15 percent of STEC infections lead to the potentially life-threatening complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome . With HUS, the destruction of red blood cells leads to kidney failure, which then causes toxic substances to accumulate in the blood . Young children, the elderly, individuals with compromised immune systems, and those on antibiotics to treat their E. coli infection are most at risk.

In general, HUS develops about one week after symptoms first appear and once diarrhea has started to clear. Those who have HUS will initially experience symptoms similar to an E.coli intestinal infection, including vomiting, fatigue, and bloody diarrhea.

Left untreated, HUS can cause numerous symptoms, such as bruising, pale skin, and jaundice. Other signs of HUS include decreased urination and, sometimes, seizures.

HUS requires prompt medical treatment. This may include:

• Fluid Replacement Lost fluid and electrolytes must be carefully replaced intravenously .
• Blood Transfusion IV red blood cell transfusions help reverse symptoms such as fatigue and shortness of breath.
• Platelet Transfusion If an individual is bleeding, IV platelet transfusions can help blood clot normally.
• Plasma Exchange Here, plasma is cleared from the blood and then replaced with donor plasma.
• Kidney Dialysis This is used to temporarily take over the kidneys job of filtering waste and extra fluid from the body.

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